So, I don't know how many of you will recall, but earlier this year we had a 3 year old Jayco 32BHDS stolen. After months of fighting insurance companies (primary and GAP coverage thankfully) we got the TT in our signature. We've been on 3-4 trips in it, and other than having some minor damage when some lady ran me off a road with no shoulder (bent stabilizer jack and Jayco slide out bike rack) things have been great

Until today....

As I was backing my TT up the hill into my driveway,a lady in a passing car and my son (who was guiding me back) both started yelling "You're cars on fire!!!" I quickly threw the car into park, engaged the parking break and turned it off. My other son (10 YO) jumper out of the car, and I started unbuckling the 3 YO twin girls out of the back. As soon as my younger son saw me doing this he ran right back and started unbuckling his other 3 YO sister out of the car.

Luckily the fire wasn't horribly bad. It looks like the rear main seal of the engine failed and dumped oil that caught fire. After that all settled down I put the car into neutral and coasted down the hill (still had trailer brakes) to clear the road. Now I'm trying to find a wrecker service that can put my TT into my driveway and then tow my truck.

Of course this alone can't be enough, I just had to have the AC in the truck fixed, a pump for the sprinkler system, some medical bills, and one of the AC units on the house - all in the past 2 months. Not to mention buying my current TT. Well, I guess having liquid savings is over rated, and I'm just thankful the kids are OK.

Are you really low on engine oil? It is kind of unusual for a rear main seal to dump very much oil from the engine, the oil pump is not a huge volume pusher, and the pressure is less than 40 PSI once the engine is warm. More likely the transmission overheated, and might have vented through the dipstick, and that an flow down onto the hot engine exhaust manifolds.

The transmission cooler lines are under about 75 - 200 PSI, depending on who you talk to, and what model transmission it is. My guess is still with the transmission.

Unless the oil cooler broke, that did happen to someone I know, it was a 86 or 87 Ford van, back when they used a tube and fin cooler and a high pressure 1" diameter oil line broke. It is not the current model that is connected to the radiator hoses without high pressure oil lines.

CHeck the oil level, and if that is fine, start checking the transmission, it's cooler lines, ect. If you have not melted the wires going to the transmission, it might be able to start, and if it was a oil leak, it will keep leaking. If only a transmission leak, it might be because it overheated backing up.

Backing uphill at a low speed with a high horsepower engine can heat up the transmission very quickly. It might be something better taken care of in the morning, while the truck engine is still cool, and radiator is also cool, able to absorb a lot more heat.

If you can shift into 4 wheel low range, it would be better to provide more low speed torque to get you moving up the hill backwards. Don't worry about being in 4 wheel drive on dry pavement when you will be driving less than 10 MPH. There should be a warning not to be in 4 wheel drive on dry pavement without slippery conditions above 15 MPH, as you are locking the axles together, and some vehicles have a problem with that.

I digital transmission temperature gauge would be nice, JcWhitney.com I wired mine into the pressure port on the transmission. When over 235F, I know to slow down on the mountain grades. When at 200, it is working great.

If you find you are constantly over 215F on fairly level or slight hills, you need another transmission fluid cooler. My suggestion is a DeRale 12"x12" with a 9" fan that you can turn on from the drivers seat, especially when backing up into a campsite, or anytime, such as going slowly up a hill that the transmission is getting close to 220F.

Nothing a transmission rebuilding shop likes more than a overheating transmission that is not under warranty. Once they have to warranty the transmission, they will suggest installing a cooler.

If you can't get a wrecker service to move it, try uhaul or Home Depot, Or Lowes, they rent pick up trucks,, We had a break down,,,, actually is was an off road incident at a local lake, AAA would not tow trailer off road.
They took my truck and I got a ride to a local Home Depot, rented a 3/4 ton pick up, put my hitch on it and got my trailer home..

Not motor oil.But, transmission fluid puking out because it got hot from backing up. Due to the reduced air flow across the radiator.

My thought too. If you can start up the Excursion and it is not puking out motor oil (check the level first) then it probably was transmission fluid.

If you can not start the engine, then the neutral safety switch wires are probably melted. So the car might not think it is in park or neutral, and will not crank over. Or it can be any number of other wires that melted during the short fire.

It might also be something totally unrelated, such as a leaking power steering hose, but my guess is your transmission fluid is now very low, due to some of it foaming up, and coming out the dipstick, landing on the exhaust manifold.

It's horrible you have had such a run of bad luck, but things can be replaced - people can't. I don't care if it was the trans or engine, thankfully you're kids are okay and your son was so quick to help! I have faith, things will turn around for you, just remember - tough times don't last, tough people do.

I had a buddy who's pretty sharp with cars look, and he seemed pretty sure it was the rear main seal.

We were able to start the Excursion up after things cooled down. We only let it run about 20 seconds or so, but it held oil pressure.

before the fire, while backing up, the transmission temp was high, but not in the yellow or red yet - about 7/8ths of the way to the yellow, and the engine temp was about 75% of the way to the top. However, you could really feel the heat off the truck when I stopped it - but then again, that could have been the flames.... (sorry, trying to keep sane).

There was definitely an oily sheen on the pavement, the the oil dripping was brown / black to the touch. We had just had the oil changed ealier in the day for the trip, and I was thiking the filter may have blew off, or the old gasket was left on when they pulled the old filter, but it doesn't look to be the case.

I definitely appreciate the ideas / thoughts though. if there are any other suggestions, please let me know.

I will check the oil in the morning, but when the car was stopped, it was at a slow drip. It is facing downhill now, so I don't know how accurate the dipstick would be.